The Centre for Research into Freemasonry University of Sheffield

Lecture given at Lodge Chimera N° 160 on the rolls of the Regular Grand Lodge of Italy - Arezzo, Italy on 21st November 2002.

The
Centre for Research into Freemasonry

University
of Sheffield

Masonic
Research has always been an interest of mine since I joined the Craft in 1979,
although I am really waiting for retirement before I can get down to some of the
areas I find particularly interesting.In
the meantime I have been involved in the activities of the Sheffield Masonic
Study Circle for a number of years, formerly as Secretary and next April
becoming President.I am also
involved with the Canonbury Masonic Research Centre in London and of course with
the Centre for Research into Freemasonry in Sheffield, where I am a sort of
unofficial link between the non-masons in the Centre and the local masonic
community in Sheffield, which includes 26 Lodges from the Province of Yorkshire
West Riding, meeting at Tapton Hall, not too far from the University and 13
Lodges from the Province of Derbyshire, meeting at Dore Masonic Hall on the
outskirts of Sheffield.

The
Centre for Research into Freemasonry was established by the University of
Sheffield in the academic session 2000-2001.The Centre forms part of the University's award-winning Humanities
Research Institute, and was formally launched on 5 March 2001.

This is the first Centre to be established in a British
University, although there are many scholars working in research areas which
include freemasonry in other universities.A number of these scholars have already presented seminar papers in
Sheffield.

Professor Andrew Prescott, a medieval historian and expert on
humanities computing, has been seconded from the British Library to the
University of Sheffield for three years to establish the new Centre.

The Centre is funded by the United Grand Lodge of England,
the Province of Yorkshire West Riding and Lord Northampton, the recently
appointed Pro Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, who have
provided £250,000 over three years. While the freemasons are providing funding
for the Centre, they have, at their own insistence, no involvement in
appointments to the staff of the Centre or to the research agenda of the Centre.
The funding is administered by a specially-established Trust which includes a
representative of the freemasons and of the University of Sheffield, together
with independent members.

The Centre undertakes and promotes objective scholarly
research into the historical, social and cultural impact of freemasonry,
particularly in Britain.Until the
1930s, freemasonry was an important part of English civic life.Indeed, freemasonry is one of the cultural phenomena of British origin
which has had the biggest international impact.

Sheffield’s
award-winning Humanities Research Institute (HRI) is one of the UK’s leading
centres for humanities computing, and has been a pioneer in inter-disciplinary
and team-based research in the humanities.

The projects in the HRI, drawn from a wide range of
humanities disciplines, use innovative techniques for handling digital text,
images and multi-media to explore issues in humanities research which cannot be
readily investigated by other means. The Institute’s aim is to assist in the
creation of the essential tools for humanities research in the 21st Century.

The Institute was awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize in
1998.Among the Projects are:

The Hartlib papers (1988 – 1994).

The Canterbury Tales Project.

The John Foxe Project.

Gide; Flore Tristan; Galdos; French film stars

NOF: Cistercian abbeys; Old Bailey proceedings

However,
the history of freemasonry has been unaccountably neglected by professional
scholars in Britain. This contrasts with Europe and America, where the
historical, literary and artistic heritage of freemasonry has for a long time
been the subject of intense scholarly scrutiny, and is very much part of the
academic mainstream.

One
of the reasons why historians neglect freemasonry is the lack of good critical
bibliographies and guides to research resources. The Centre is developing such
bibliographical guides and will make them available on the Centre's web site.Future bibliographies planned for 2002 include a bibliography of
histories of craft freemasonry, the Royal Arch and additional degrees for all
English counties and major towns, and a bibliography of the works of the
‘Sheffield school’ of masonic historians associated with Douglas Knoop.In the meantime, a useful short bibliography has been produced by Matthew
Scanlan for the Cornerstone site.It
can be accessed from the Sheffield website.

The assumption that eveything is secret is another factor
which has hindered non-masonic scholars in their research.

The Craft is perceived by many non-masonic scholars and
indeed by many of its own scholars as being obsessed with its origins.I think this is very understandable, but it must not be allowed to stifle
the very important work which needs to be done on so many aspects of
freemasonry.

Unfortunately, many masonic scholars have failed to relate
their research to broader intellectual themes, thereby diminishing the academic
value of their researches to historians.

The aim of the Centre is to put the study of freemasonry
firmly on the academic map in Britain.The
research agenda of the Centre is appraised and assessed by an advisory committee
of distinguished academics from the University of Sheffield and other academic
institutions.

So
the Centre will:

Demonstrate the richness of the resources that are available

Provide bibliographies and guides to manuscript resources

Look at the modern history of the institution

Build links with continental and American scholars

Above all, relate the research to mainstream academic themes

One of the aims of the Centre is the running of an active
public programme of lectures, seminars and conferences, and developing its own
large-scale research projects.

The programme of seminars has included papers on such
subjects as the origins of freemasonry by Professor David Stevenson, the
friendly societies and freemasonry by Professor Andy Durr and Eighteenth century
masonic music by Andrew Pink.

The Centre’s first international conference, Lodges,
Chapters and Orders: Fraternal Organisations and the Structuring of Gender Roles
in Europe, 1300-2000 was held during the summer of 2002 and was very
successful.Abstracts of the papers
delivered at the Conference are available on the Sheffield website.

Professor Andrew Prescott has delivered papers at major conferences, such
as the Canonbury Conference in London, the Kirkcaldy International Conference in
Scotland and the Cultural Atlas Conference.He has also given talks in a large number of Lodges across England.

The development of research resources has continued
throughout this last year and includes:

Documents in Freemasonry,
a series of CD-ROMs which will reproduce books, manuscripts, visual materials
and other primary sources of outstanding importance for investigating the
social, historical and cultural impact of freemasonry. The CD-ROMs are published
by Academy Electronic Publications.Andrew
Prescott is also the editor of the first CD-ROM Preston's Illustrations of
Masonry, http://www.aepubs.com/ which contains first the text of the 9
extant editions produced in England during Preston's lifetime, secondly an
intuitive interface for browsing and searching the editions, thirdly an
exploration of the text's evolution across the 9 editions and lastly
introductory analyses & digitised images of the 1788 edition.

An introductory bibliography on the website.This bibliography at present contains only about 60 entries, which are
categorised by country and by subject, as we shall see shortly when we have a
brief look at the website itself.

The Project aims to put Lane's Masonic Records, a directory
which lists all the UGLE lodges which ever existed, their names, numbers,
meeting places and other details, on to a computer database.There are a number of
annotated copies of Lane at Great Queen Street which are crammed with
corrections and notes on individual lodge entries. As soon as it has mounted
Lane onto a database, the Centre will apply for a grant to have the additional
information in these annotated copies inserted in the database. So
an enhanced Lane will be provided. This in itself is quite a sizeable project -
a good nine month's work - and having done this, the Centre will then seek a
further grant to produce a continuation of Lane up to the present day.
This will be one of the main research aims of the Centre over the next two or
three years.

A searchable version of The Freemason will also shortly be
available on the website.

At
present, the main priority of the Centre for Research into Freemasonry is the
development of a research agenda which will help place the study of freemasonry
in the mainstream of humanities scholarship. During the initial three year
period of funding, the Centre will not be offering any taught courses on
freemasonry at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

However, two postgraduate research students have been
enrolled and more will follow.The
Centre welcomes enquiries about postgraduate research into any aspect of the
social, cultural and historical impact of freemasonry, and will assist in
developing applications to the appropriate academic department of the
University. Enquirers are advised to read the web pages of the Graduate Research
Office, and to contact the Centre at any early stage for advice on development
of their application.

A lecture is currently being given each year as part of the
foundation course in History to first year Undergraduates at Sheffield.

A project was undertaken last year with students in the
School of Architecture which focussed on the Old Masonic Hall in Sheffield, and there
are plans for the next five years, including summer schools and diploma courses
aimed at amateur masonic researchers.

Research
is, of course, at the heart of the activity of the Centre for Research into
Freemasonry at Sheffield.

One priority is the exploration of social trends and
connections of membership through the study of membership records.

Detailed studies of membership records in Wales, London and
elsewhere have been completed.

Also the Centre will be examining the connections between
freemasonry and the radical tradition in Britain (particularly Paine, Carlile
and Bradlaugh).

Andrew Prescott’s first conference paper, ‘The Unlawful
Societies Act of 1799’, has now appeared in the very recently published Canonbury Papers Volume 1 : The Social Impact of Freemasonry on the Modern Western World.

The
Centre has produced a number of newsletters over the last two years and has just
published the first edition of a monthly e-zine.

Finally, the main means of communication is through the
Centre’s website: